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Sting Of The Scorpion

Posted on Thu Feb 21st, 2019 @ 1:56pm by Lieutenant Commander Mnhei'sahe Dox & Commander Rita Paris

Mission: Recovery Trek
Location: USS Hera, Deck 3, Upper Flight Deck
Timeline: 2396, docked at DS9

Walking around one of the Scorpion-class fighters they had liberated from Starbase 336 before it's destruction by Odin, Commander Rita Paris did what she always did when she didn't understand something in the modern day- she looked it up.

"The Scorpion-class is a type of small attack fighter introduced in 2375 by the Romulan Star Empire for use for their Reman troops. They are still in current use as attack fighters, utilizing disruptor turrets and standard photon torpedoes, as well as shields and cloaking devices. This thing packs a cloak?!?" the fetching first officer of the USS Hera exclaimed as she paced around the small craft.

"The cockpit of a Scorpion-class fighter is small, with the copilot, who serves as the tactical operator, is seated behind the pilot. The disruptor mount is located on the dorsal stern area. Well, you're getting replaced by a phaser, buddy. Mrs. Paris' little girl prefers her non-lethal options, thank you. Let's see here, capable of both carrier-based and independent operation, capable of atmospheric flight. The current model is warp-capable and possesses a cloaking device."

Quickly, Rita flipped to an entry on the Federation's stance on cloaking devices. "Let's see here... Treaty of Algeron, year 2311, reinforced and redefined the Romulan Neutral Zone, made clear any violations considered an act of war, no surprise there. Treaty expressly prohibited the development or use of cloaking device technology by the Federation. A secret amendment was made to the treaty in 2371 which allowed limited use of cloaking devices by the Federation as long as it was supervised by a Romulan military officer. Well hello!" Rita read aloud as she paced about the shiny little fighter craft.

"This allowed the USS Defiant to be loaned a cloaking device for its operations against the Dominion. However, the amendment stated that only a single Defiant-class vessel was allowed the use of the cloaking device and only in the Gamma Quadrant. Hwomp hwommmmp. So much for that. Guess we gotta yank your cloak, little buddy. Hmm, what kinda power source do you have, anyway?" Turning her back to the sleek black craft, Rita parked her butt on the canopy and continued reading.

"The Scorpion attack fighter is powered by a matter-antimatter reactor instead of the usual Romulan power source, a confined quantum singularity. Well, that's a relief. I guess. Riding this close to a black hole is somehow scarier than a reactor. So what have we got for... you kidding me? Utilizes disruptor turrets and standard photon torpedoes, as well as shields and cloaking devices. You've got shields too, little buddy? I think I'm gonna like you a lot." The anachronistic astronaut patted the canopy affectionately as she studied the technical specifications of the versatile little craft.

By the time Lieutenant Dox arrived, the Commander was on a hoverboard underneath the little fighter craft, apparently inspecting the torpedo bays.

Walking in at a brisk pace that she hadn't realized she had picked up from keeping pace with Paris, Mnhei'sahe Dox had her face buried in her PaDD as usual. As a general rule, the Flight Control Department was one of the less hectic one's on a Starship, but Dox didn't care for that rule and kept the department very busy as it's Chief.

For the red-headed Romulan pilot, downtime meant time for everyone to be better. Any pilot that wasn't occupied in the efforts to ferry refugees about on the Runabouts was updating their combat flight Simulation times. There was also a considerable amount of cargo in the ships flight decks that needed to be re-cataloged and moved. There were shuttle maintenance drills and flight system checks that could be done. Dox kept her department on its toes at all times, and today was no different. As she walked, she couldn't help but notice that her crews seemed to be working as far from the Scorpion as possible. It was a strange bubble that lower ranked crewmembers seemed to keep regarding the ships First Officer as if somehow Rita Paris was unapproachable. An idea Dox found irritating.

As she approached the Scorpion and Commander Paris, she was on her Comm badge talking. "No, Miss MacNielle. Mr. Hovind is moving that cargo from Bay two. Mr. Paulson is scheduled to run a systems check on the new Class 15's we picked up from Earth. Ensign Gonadie is currently in the Runabout Selune running refugees to Bajor, so you have the office until further notice. Keep the schedule running, thank you."

As she arrived at the upper deck, Dox put her PaDD in her back pocket, folded her arms behind her back and leaned over to look under the Scorpion's hull. "Well, Commander. What do you think of our new toys?"

"Did you know these things pack a cloaking device and are warp capable? I mean, warp 5, but still, that's reasonably incredible!" came the excited if somewhat muffled voice from underneath the small fighter craft. "And they can carry two photon torpedoes! In my day we had to roll down a window if we wanted the shuttlecraft to have phasers! We'll have to scuttle the cloak and replace the disruptor with a phaser, but it looks pretty doable. I think these things came preloaded with plasma torpedoes, too..."

While for the most part, Rita Paris tended to maintain a certain gravitas on duty, it was clear that the compact and sophisticated little fighter craft excited her, and that enthusiasm was certainly something new to hear from her. This was, she realized, the first time she'd encountered the technology, so while she had missed Rita's first encounters with much of the technology of the late 24th century, Lieutenant Dox was witnessing this first encounter firsthand.

It was extremely pleasing to see her excitement and the anxious aviatrix smiled as she listened. "She is quite a beauty. I have Ensign Gonadie scheduled to remove the cloaking system completely first thing at the beginning of her shift tomorrow. Hardware and software will be removed while the Romulan authorities are still available should the Captain decide to hand it over. Nevertheless, Ensign Gonadie is extremely excited by what she will be able to do with the available hardware space, computing power and power allotment. After all, cloaks are still massive power eaters and removing it will free up an additional 68% power for additional systems."

Dox pulled her PaDD back out to reference it as she spoke. "Lieutenant Commander sh'Zoarhi will be replacing the entire hard drive and operating system as it will be much easier to maintain and even easier than trying to teach a Rihanssu flight computer Terran common." Then the rotund Romulan pulled a stack of yellow papers out of her back pocket and held them down for Paris to see. "That said, 20th Century Earth provided a wonderful workaround in the meantime to make flight tests easier: Post-it notes with proper translations on them."

"Hah! Brilliant. Well, it sounds like you have the assimilation process underway," Rita Paris slid out from under the small craft, a grin on her face and her skirt tucked in between her thighs to maintain her theoretical modesty. The old-fashioned officer still wore her archaic uniform at the Captain's indulgence, as it made her more comfortable and suited her better. The appearance that it lent her was one of a literal piece of the days of the 5-year missions in the golden age of exploration, which was quite accurate in her case. Her idealism, her attitudes and her determination to do the right thing had not changed upon her arrival in the modern day, and on the Hera they were not only appreciated but celebrated.

Besides, as a Starfleet Intelligence vessel, the USS Hera existed solely on a highly classified level. Her crew tended to fall under the same umbrella, and Rita Paris herself, to the average security clearance within Starfleet, simply did not exist. Which would certainly be a factor in the days to come.

In the here and now, she planted her feet and easily levered herself back upright. Those strong runner's legs made such feats easy for her, as the woman tended to cover a 5K every day at minimum. If troubled, she'd been known to run a marathon to sort out her thoughts or feelings.

"Personally I was thinking of painting them the trio of colors- powder blue, metallic mustard and crimson- after all, we could then equip them accordingly for departments. Pack the science model with sensors and analytic equipment, make the gold model exploratory with various useful implements since she'll likely be getting me out of trouble, and the crimson we arm for war. Thoughts, Chief?" This was Mnhei'sahe Dox' project, she had secured the fighter craft and she was the chief flight control officer. While Paris outranked her and could just issue orders, she also respected departmental authority, and in this case it was just plain polite to defer to the chief helmsman in matters regarding flyers.

Though in this case, Dox's eyes lit up at the suggestions. "That all sounds... kind of amazing. Far beyond any ideas I had. That's kind of brilliant, really."

Dox looked over at the currently shiny black hull and pondered. "Though I do think a metallic deep teal would look nicer for science. But it's not a sword I need to fall on," the reply was said with a smile and a playful tone.

"Thought about taking her out for a run? Aside from the controls all still being in Rihan, which I am prepared for..." Dox waved the yellow post-it notes playfully. "...she is deceptively intuitive to fly. I think you'll love it."

"Tempting as that might be, I'd rather go over some of the possible ideas we came up with previously. Sans cloak we should be able to get those tractor beam arrays installed, because I still think those will come in handy, and who would expect a little fighter like this to have a touch tractor beam?" Paris ran her fingers over the canopy as she spoke, slowly walking alongside the craft as she did so. "It looks like we should be able to accommodate EVA armor in the cockpit, although we might want to use inflatable flight couches to make them able to accommodate larger or smaller forms. Mona still set to install a stick and throttle for the interface?"

"The current interface is manual, but it's more of a directional pad currently. I have Mona working up a complete cockpit revision proposal." Dox pressed a control on her PaDD and the cockpit opened up.

"We squeezed in moderately well in the EVA suits during our evac, but it was a tight squeeze and none to comfortable. Plus, my rear assets need to be accounted for." Dox replied with a self-effacing chuckle at the expense of her notoriously prodigious posterior. "So adaptive materials are certainly an option. I've found a few that are interesting."

"That disruptor canon needs to go," Dox added. "I have some ideas for a modular array that can be swapped out based on mission needs with something akin to what our EVA weapons are capable of concerning the armament cycling."

"Oooh, I like that idea. But maybe have a base mission loadout, then the modular option is definitely one that I like. She'll need a smart little computer with an autopilot and remoter piloting capability, since we're yanking the original and installing, may as well ensure we get what we need into her. Definitely an advanced navigational computer for warp microhops." Tapping on the cockpit, Rita frowned slightly. "I still like the idea of this converting to a one-man flight suit. I guess I watched too many holovids growing up, but somehow I can just see this little ship folding in half, turning into additional armor plating. But that's probably pretty structurally impractical, I would guess, since in all these years no one has ever done it."

"Commander, achieving impractical tasks is practically our mission statement. I think that idea will be a custom design and build. Something Mona can reverse engineer from studying these. But it's part of my written proposals. If it can be done, we'll do it." Dox smiled a sly half grin. "Besides, I want to fly something like that in the worst way."

"RIGHT?" Now THAT will be a way to carom down ship corridors. Heavy armor, shields, heavy weapons with torpedoes mounted on your back yet stealth plating and interchangeable mission capability packages? If Ensign Gonadie's going to design it I might just ask for some maneuvering foils that can spin and work as traction as well for a cycle option." Rita paused and grinned, looking like a teenager considering stealing her daddy's hot rod. "One of the best parts of living in the future, is that all of my stupid and childish ideas are no longer impractical."

Turning towards Rita with a slightly quizzical expression, Dox scrunched her face a little as she replied. "Commander... with all due respect, your ideas are neither stupid nor childish. I understand the need to knock yourself down... it's clearly something I'm an expert in... but it's unnecessary. Your ideas and input on this project have been invaluable, don't discount them or yourself. Please."

Chin snapping upward, Rita considered the commentary, processed it, then nodded. "All right, Lieutenant. I suppose what was dismissable as fancy in my day is much more possible now, in this age of technological wonders. The science fiction of my day is science fact in so many ways, and the imagination of an antique might hold the science facts of the future yet to come." The buxom blonde nodded, testing one of the maneuvering fins to see if it could hold her weight before settling her rounded rear onto it.

"You're right, and Sonak has been telling me the same thing for years. Seems it's just a bit of a hard lesson for me to grasp. Which I'm sure you can't even conceive of how that feels," Paris rolled her eyes and tossed her hands up.

Chuckling slightly at the exaggerated gesture, Dox replied. "Well, it's generally easier to see in those we care about what we don't want to admit about to ourselves. I know I'm guilty of it in excess. But that Sonak sounds pretty smart, you should listen to him."

The Romulan red-head leaned over, looking into the cockpit. "Well, whenever you are feeling like taking her for a spin, let me know. It is a lot of fun."

"You're just dying to go out, huh? All right... Computer?" Rita asked in the specific tone that she knew the computer would respond to hearing as a lone statement.

=^= Yes, Commander Paris? =^= the computer solicitously replied.

"Would you be so kind as to beam in one of the other Scorpion craft to this location to the starboard of this one. Please paint this one to match my armor, with black accents- I leave the design specifics up to you, but express yourself, please. Then duplicate that painting scheme in Command Uniform Crimson on the incoming model. Begin." It was an order, and one with considerable leeway. But Rita Paris had a habit of treating the ship's computer as if she were speaking to the ship itself, and she tended to treat it as another crew member.

In a few seconds, one of the other Scorpions appeared in a dazzling sparkle of blue lights to the side of where the two officers were standing. As soon as it did, the computer went to work on both craft. A Holographic grid pattern was projected over both ships as they were scanned. Dox looked at Rita with a light smile as the projected patterns drew lines across the hulls of each ship planning out the patterns. After a moment in which the computer legitimately seemed to be mulling over its options, it responded with a chirp.

=^=Design chosen. Rendering.=^=

A similar transporter effect began to shimmer over the top of both hulls and the colors were replicated directly into the surface. After a few seconds, the shimmering lights and holographic lines vanished leaving two Scorpions now decked out in metallic mustard Gold and deep Crimson. The original black color of the scorpion was still visible as the trim of the wing flaps and edges were still dark, almost reflecting the black v-neck collar of Rita's uniform.

=^=Renders complete. Do they meet your requirements, Commander Paris?=^=

"Spectacular work, Computer. Stylish and functional, very well done. Now, would you emblazon the gold model with my era's command starburst delta on both rear wings in place of the current emblem, and the modern Starfleet dual column delta on the crimson model please?"

The holographic overlay came up with the appropriate emblems, and Paris spoke up. "A bit bigger please, just recenter them... bit more... yes, that should do. Perfect, thank you Computer." As she gave the order, the computer followed suit, emblazoning the small vessels with the requested insignia.

"I dub thee Getaway Driver. What do you plan to call yours, Miss Dox?" Although in Starfleet they could not claim any ownership of such craft, possessiveness amongst pilots was a very real thing, and these were special purpose craft.

"I honestly hadn't given it any thought, really." Dox walked over and ran a hand over the glittering crimson surface. "I'm sure she'll tell me who she is, though."

Stepping back to the freshly dubbed 'Getaway Driver', Dox reopened the shield and began fixing in the post it notes to translate Rihan instructions to Terran standard. "The controls are extremely simple and the structure is fairly standard so you probably won't even need these, really."

"What do you say we go find out, Miss Dox?" Paris waggled her eyebrows. "I don't think we've ever both had the chance to both fly at the same time before. What do you say you take your little speed racer here and give Getaway Driver a run for her money?"

"We have not, Commander." Dox pulled out her PaDD And waved it. "And it's already on the schedule. I think that sounds like an excellent idea."

"Let's see what the new girls can do..."

After a few minutes of Pre-Flight checks and some additional Romulan to English translation where needed, the two newly colorful ships were spaceborne. The two born pilots put each ship through its paces performing daring maneuvers at breakneck speeds and clearly enjoying every moment of being able to just fly without the stresses of a mission on their respective shoulders.

After a time, the conversation of their modifications resumed from their respective cockpits and actually flying the small, golden ship had clealry inspired Rita Paris.

"Telling you, the rear fins come down and lock with the forward fins to shunt down and form the legs, then the main bulk of the engine back there converts into the arms. Why the landing gear on this isn't the same modular blaster I don't know, but we're gonna fix that with another underslung phaser, then when in mecha mode there'll be a phaser on either forearm. Or you could choose to have them both on the shoulders like turrets- since they're modular, put them on belt tracks so they can be relocated according to mission requirements." Taking a spinning flip five times without changing forward momentum or direction, Paris rolled the small craft to align her cockpit with that of the crimson craft piloted by Mnhei'sahe Dox.

"Now it may look like I am designing a great war machine, and I am well aware of that, Miss Dox. But I am actually building the ultimate explorer craft. An EVA that is strong, fast, versatile, comes with shields and large phaser emitters, a few torpedoes and everything you could possibly need to explore that musty old tomb on Karamongo 17," Paris explained. "I mean, not that it won't likely end up in fights, but that's just an unavoidable aspect of our lives. Not everyone listens to reason."

"Unfortunate, but true. Though our missions do seem to lean that way, and it's best to have the equipment even if we don't use it in a conflict scenario." Dox replied. "Do you think if we try and work a mech conversion in, we would still be able to accommodate both seats or would that space be better served for the added equipment this would likely require?"

"If we're planning to beam it into trouble spots, I think we could sacrifice the copilot seat. Or we could make it a half conversion... sort of a vehicle with arms and legs to preserve both seats, but the more I am thinking of it, converting these to single pilot craft seems quite logical. What are you thinking?" Experimentally, Rita tried interacting with the inertial dampeners to cut a tight corner, but as the instructions were still in Rihan, she got a bit lost on the menu and accidentally deactivated the artificial gravity in the cockpit, and struggled with the interface to restore it.

"Well, the Scorpions computers were... rudimentary compared to what Commander sh'Zoarhi could upgrade us to in half the space required. As such, the operations a second pilot was required to manage will be much easier for a Starfleet operating system to handle." Then Dox thought about it a bit more. "Of course, the modular seating could mean a best of both worlds so we can HAVE a second seat for passenger EVAC, but one that can be folded away for conversion when there's only one occupant."

Looking over at Rita's cockpit, Dox caught the blonde bombshell's hair looking significantly more buoyant than normal without gravity and sussed out the problem. "Third row of switches from the bottom, on port. Fourth yellow button with the symbol that looks like a thick upsidedown 'A'."

"Ah, thank you..." Rita replied, her embarrassment evident in her voice, despite the fact that there was practically no way for her to have known how to get out of her predicament without help, as the interface was written in a language literally alien to her and unknown to the Federation in her day. "I very much like the 'stow and go' seating option for the copilot seat. This was a brilliant idea on your part Miss Dox! Using these as the base craft for the conversions is a great start, and rather than designing from the ground up, modifying an existing good idea and making it better very much appeals to me. Hell, the TR116C2 would easily fit as an underslung rifle in vehicular mode that would then be available in mecha mode. Or it could be a pop-up option for one of the rear fins, assuming there is a lot of wasted space in there..."

"There will be plenty of space once we pull the Cloak from the back for sure." Dox replied, putting her Crimson ship into a tight barrel roll as she spoke. "And swapping out the panels will be the first alteration made. Manual controls and LCARS interfaces. And thank you, Commander. I think these are going to be exceptional once we work out how to implement these ideas."

"This means a lot to me, Mnhei'sahe... thank you," Rita explained from her cockpit, enjoying the feel but mildly frustrated by her inability to try anything interesting with the alien control interface. "From the conception of a way to get me out of places without beaming, to securing them, to encouraging my dumb ideas... this whole project has been your plan from start to finish, and I appreciate it more than you might realize. I'm still trying to get used to the fact that what were silly ideas in my day are engineering innovations in the modern day. But... it makes me happy working on this, and feeling maybe not so dumb after all. I... don't know if that makes a lot of sense, but... it means a lot to me."

"They weren't silly ideas then anymore then they are now, Rita." Dox let protocol drop as Rita had used the first name that the young Romulan knew was a tongue twister to her. "But in that environment, which I only had to spend a few hours in on the holodeck, nobody was going to listen to ideas that were neither 'silly' nor 'dumb' from a woman. those ideas... they were simply one hundred and thirty plus years ahead of their time."

"And yes, it makes perfect sense, and you are very welcome." Dox followed up sincerely.

"I think we have a pile of those Amazon bracers from Meroset, that her Amazon guards used," Rita mused as she preprogrammed a rollercoaster ride into the nave computer to make a looping course that would bring them back to where they started. Unsure of how to program it in, she sent it via PaDD to Dox with the message 'tandem flight or follow the leader?'. "Incorporated into the transformed flight suit, it would either project on the mech arm or over the user, which would be center mass for the mech. We'll have to see if the technology can be incorporated, see if Dedjoy's in an adaptive mood or has an alternative. For a deliberate point-heavy shield. Those things were phaser-proof, after all."

"I hadn't even considered that Amazon equipment. This idea keeps getting more and more interesting." As Dox spoke, she reviewed the files that Rita had send her.

Smiling, Dox entered Rita's course into the Scorpion's nav computer and forwarded the same flight plan back to Rita's golden flyer. "Let's try tandem, Commander. The course is uploaded to 'the Getaway Driver's' nav. To implement, your heads up will have a blinking orange triangle in the lower right quad. Press that and the program will go live."

"Synchronize in 3...2...1...contact!" Rita called, then the twin flyers took off in a curling, winding flight path that read like a piloting course through a dogfight. While she was not the greatest of pilots, she was in fact quite the navigator, plotting courses that worked surprisingly effectively. "I can't wait to get a proper nav computer in this thing so we can practice warp hops to determine precisely what they can accomplish. These are going to be some very impressive little starcraft, Miss Dox. Once we bring in Miss Gonadie, we might just make aerospace history..."

"Well, we're Intel, so we may only ever know ourselves. But it will be worth it if we can pull off half of your ideas." Dox replied, wildly enjoying Rita's course.

"There are a lot of implications for this. We're basically designing a warp capable flightsuit here, Miss Dox. This is a bit revolutionary- imagine doing planetary exploration in one of these that converts to a large scale multipurpose EVA suit? Sitting in orbit and watching the sensors is great, but you don't experience the beauty of a world that way. This could bring mankind into the 25th century in a big way, Lieutenant. Imagine the possibilities!"

It was hard not to get caught up in the excitement of the emotional executive. After all, she did raise a good point- what she was proposing could be quite revolutionary, and could set the tone for individual explorers of the galaxy, swarming over planets and moons and celestial phenomenon, studying them up close in a way that they did not know... yet clearly they could.

"It could very well be the closest we can get to just flying free in space." Dox replied as she pondered it. "Which is preferable to just getting beamed out there. How is she handling for you?"

"Like a dream of the future, Miss Dox..."

 

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